When you can’t decide if you’re happy or sad….go suspended!

A music harmony and chord technique that I use quite a bit in my songwriting and creative development is to use SUSPENDED CHORDS.

For a quick second let's dig into the music theory of suspended chords. Regular chords are a triad of 3 notes in a major or minor key; they are the root note, the 3rd and the 5th note in that key signature. For example in the key of C major a C major triad is spelled C, E and G, in the key signature of C minor the root chord is spelled C, Eb and G. A suspended chord is simply replacing the 3rd note in the major or minor triad with the 2nd or 4th note in the key signature. I say the 2nd or 4th note as there are 2 types of suspended chords – a “Sus2” chord or a “Sus4” chord.

For example a “Sus2” chord in the Key of C is spelled C-D-G and a “Sus4” chord is spelled C-F-G.

It is very important to note that a suspended chord always WANTS TO RESOLVE to the natural major or minor chord you are playing. A Csus4 chord really wants to resolve to a C major or C minor chord. A cool trick with suspended chords is they are neither minor nor major as they don’t contain the all-important 3rd note of the key signature to make the chord major or minor so a songwriter can use suspended chords in both major and minor keys.

Okay so now that we have learned some of the fundamentals of suspended chords how are they used in creative ways in songwriting:

1. Suspended chords can be great for adding smooth transitions from abrupt or abrasive chords changes.

2. Suspended chords are great for adding tension and urgency to music as our ears naturally want them to be resolved so they can work great in pre-chorus to chorus changes or in bridges if you hold them for an extended period of time and then resolve them.

3. If a songwriter aligns that resolution and tension of a suspended chord with lyrics, text painting or some imagery hit songs and hooks can be created.

4. Suspended chords work really great on the guitar or piano and there are many inversions and ways to play them on these instruments. As a result, play around with them and experiment with adding them into your basic chord progressions for writing “hook’s”.

5. A suspended note can be added into the melody line of the song and resolve to the 3rd note of the key signature to add some very nice and pleasing melodic lines.

6. Famous songs that use suspended chords are:

a. Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp; the main chord riff uses a lots of suspended chords.

b. Free Falling by Tom Petty; the main chord riff in the verses is based around a suspended chord transition.

c. Summer of 69’ by Bryan Adams; the main “ringing” guitar riff after each chorus is based around Dsus2, D, Dsus4 to Asus2, A, Asus4 transitions.

d. To Be With You by Mr. Big uses a big Asus2 to transition to the bridge and uses that Asus2 in the verses as well.

Suspended chords and notes are a great tool for the songwriter to add to their toolbox of creativity - start upending and start suspending!

Stay in tune and in touch.

Kent